Geriatric Nursing Commons^™

Reduce Extended Length Of Stay By Reducing In-Hospital Falls, Norberto Benitez

Master's Projects and Capstones

Abstract

Problem: Every year, there are many in-hospital falls (IHFs). Nationally there are between 700,000 to 1 million falls recorded each year. Hospital falls financially burden our healthcare industry, costing approximately 34 billion annually. Context: In a local hospital in Northern California, Marin County, the microsystem has had an extraordinary number of in-hospital falls (IHFs). To date (June 2023), 13 falls have been recorded thus far; the microsystem is on track to beat the previous year's record number of 21 falls in a calendar year. Interventions: The MSN–CNL student proposed re-educating staff, resetting expectations, and reestablishing workflow. We also sought …

Development Of A Fall Prevention Bundle With Evidence-Based Tools For Hospitalized Adults, Kelly A. Tirone

Master's Projects and Capstones

Problem

One million hospitalized people fall annually in the United States, and up to a third are preventable.

Context

Data from an acute care hospital show one medical-surgical unit reported eight patient falls in 2021, two causing major harm that reached sentinel event criteria.

Interventions

A Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL) leveraged the unique CNL skill set and characteristics of Human-Centered Leadership to engage in horizontal leadership, injury prevention, and team coordination through authentic human connection. The team leveraged documentation for improved fall risk communication. Unavoidable disruptions hindered other planned interventions.

Measures

Outcome measures observe for total fall count and the …

Community-Dwelling Older Adult Fall Prevention Improvement Project, Evan Edminster Bsn, Rn, Cfrn, Tcrn, Cen, Nhdp-Bc

Master's Projects and Capstones

Abstract

Problem: Ground-level falls among community-dwelling adults 60 years and older are significant and contribute to adverse health outcomes such as fractures, functional decline, disability, and death. Additionally, falls among community-dwelling older adults are the number one mechanism of injury seen at a Northern California Level II trauma center. Falls often lead to post-fall fear, activity restriction, and physical deconditioning, further compounding fall risk.

Context: When trauma centers provide targeted outreach and screening for unmanaged health risks such as falls, they reduce unnecessary disability and premature death in the local population. Reducing total fall victim numbers and fall recidivism also …

Hospital To Home: Fall Prevention Interventions For The Discharging Patient, Joy Bridewell

Nursing Masters Papers

Falls is a major public health problem globally, with an estimated 646,000 fatal falls per year. This makes falls the second leading cause of unintentional injury death. Falls are very costly with non-fatal fall injuries costing about $50 billion per year and fatal falls with an estimated $754 million. Many risk factors contribute to a person’s risk of falling. Risk factors include age, gender, muscle strength, underlying medical or disabling conditions, and unsafe environments. Patients who have been hospitalized are also among those at risk. Most hospitalized patients are assessed frequently to determine their risk of falling so that care …

Getting To Zero: Creating An Infrastructure To Support Fall Prevention In A Medical–Surgical Unit, Krys Elgarico

Master's Projects and Capstones

Problem: Hospital falls are a growing national patient safety concern that cause anxiety, pain, distress, serious injuries, and increased health care utilization. Despite the presence of a well-developed falls prevention protocol since 2017. Internal data from an inpatient medical-surgical telemetry (MST) unit indicate the largest number of fall-related events among the hospital’s departments.

Context: Practice improvement project was initiated in a 217-bed community hospital to determine barriers and potential success factors. This MST is a dynamic, 48-bed unit providing care to mainly geriatric patients who require continuous telemetry monitoring and complex medical, trauma, and surgical services. Senior leaders in the …

Change In Falls And Sitter Cost Post Implementation Of Remote Centralized Video Monitoring In Hospitalized Adult Patients, April Nicole Dougherty

DNP Projects

PURPOSE: Falls are the leading cause of injury in hospitalized patients. Patient sitter programs are proven to be an effective way to reduce falls in hospitalized patients. Innovative technologies have been examined that provide a safe and cost-effective way to reduce sitter costs and prevent falls. An innovative technology option is a remote centralized video monitoring system containing one video monitoring technician watching and verbally redirecting multiple patients at one time using mobile cameras. The purpose of this project is to evaluate the implementation of a remote centralized video monitoring system for adult patients in the acute care hospital setting. …

Defying The Gravity Of Falls On Msu, Alvin Joseph Abad

Master's Projects and Capstones

Falls are a leading cause of injury and death for adult males in the United States and have been an ongoing problem on the Medical Surgical Unit (MSU). Therefore, the aim of this project is to increase fall prevention education and communication on MSU in order to ultimately improve fall rates. Although there are currently fall prevention processes already in place, these may not be sufficient as demonstrated by recent fall metrics. Many RNs on MSU are fairly new nurses; and their enthusiasm and adaptability may be an advantage for this evidence-based project. Furthermore, the management team seems to be …

Improving Communication To Reduce Patient Falls In A 48-Bed Medical-Surgical Unit, Christian Gella

Nursing and Health Professions Faculty Research and Publications

Abstract

Problem: Patient falls has been associated with increased morbidity, mortality and decreased quality of life. The increase in total patient falls for 2018 relative to 2017, and a spike of 10 patient falls for the month of June 2018 from a baseline of 5.3 falls per month has gained greater attention to reduce patient harm from falls while hospitalized. Prevention of falls minimizes patient exposure to the possibility of being injured. Despite efforts to curtail patient falls, improvement in communication is essential to address the safety issues surrounding improving quality of care practices, and consequentially reduce un-reimbursable hospital costs …

Approach To Safety Improvement: Focusing On Better Care (Fall Prevention In Medical Surgical/Intermediate Care Unit), Jose Fox Caballes Jr

Master's Projects and Capstones

Patient safety is one of the major concern of any healthcare provider during their patient’s hospital stay. This project addressed the steady trend of fall incidences compared to last fiscal years’ data of an average of 4 falls per month. This trend created urgency to envisioned a plan for solutions to prevent this circumstance from happening. This Clinical Nurse Leader led a project in creating a process in identifying all patients that are high risk to fall (HRTF) prior to their admittance or transfer to Medical Surgical/Intermediate Care Unit and throughout their hospital stay until they are discharged. In addition, …